Month: July 2013

The years passed; mother was over ninety and no longer able to write. I struggled with the situation in which I found myself and turned to books, as usual, for solace. This time, however, it was to write them, not to read them. Over the years, I had written for our British magazine The Message of Victory. I had also co-authored several children’s books with my mother as well as composing poetry from time to time. But my secret ambition had been to write Christian Romance Novels, one in particular, and it was to be called The Velvet Curtain. Growing up during the cold war, the term “Iron Curtain” had become firmly embedded in my mind. But, slowly, I came to the conclusion that we in the West had our own counterpart. It was soft, velvety, intrusive, invasive, and equally as controlling as the Iron Curtain. Too often I had watched as unsuspecting immigrants from the East, soon found themselves entangled in its soft folds. Perhaps a novel set in the eighties describing how two young women from Romania combat this subtle curtain might prove a warning to many, (and entertaining reading into the bargain).

And so another Christian romance novel was born or rather a trilogy of Christian romance novels came into being for the first was soon followed by Behind the Velvet Curtain and Escaping the Velvet Curtain.

I can remember vividly sitting in our little “caravan” or trailer which was parked in our yard on the grounds of our house in the Lake District. It was vacation time. I was about thirteen years of age and bored to tears so Mother suggested that I take up pen and paper and write what she was about to dictate. I don’t know quite what I expected, certainly not what followed—the opening lines of a Christian Romance Novel, something she had never tackled before.

And so began the story of a young diamond merchant from South Africa who was searching for a human diamond, someone worthy to become his wife. Life had dealt hardly with him and he had little faith in God or humanity, and he was skeptical that he would ever find a human diamond.. When a certain young woman finally passed all the tests he applied to human gems, he discovered that she was a devoted Christian and could not think of marrying him. Of course, as you may imagine, this is not the end of the story. To discover the finale, go to our website and purchase it for yourself.

Many years have passed. Mother is now in her Heavenly Home, but her story lives on. Some consider that it more than an allegory than one of the usual Christian Romance Novels you pick up in a Christian Book Store. But whatever it may be, to me it holds precious memories of mother and daughter “special time” together when a thirteen-year-old was bored to tears and lo, a Christian novel was born.